[y not]

Contemplating the Buddha and the Dhamma, I reflected on those two words in the verse ‘he who sees me sees the Dhamma; he who sees the Dhamma sees me’ At face value the meaning is at once quite clear – he who sees me sees the Teaching; he who sees the Teaching sees me -but what I wanted to see was how this truth may be implied in the two words themselves, if it was. I had the feeling that somehow it must.

Lal has explained that ‘Buddha’ derives from’ Bhava’ (continued existence in the 31 realms) and ‘udda’, to eliminate or to rise above, to go beyond, and therefore to render ineffective. To go beyond the 31 realms.

‘Dhamma’ derives from the root ‘dhr’ or ‘dhri’, meaning ‘what is established’, ‘that which is the norm’, that is, the way things operate individually (in the 31 realms) and their workings (the Vedic ‘Rta’ ) – the overall interrelation of each to each and collectively being that ‘norm of Existence’. But all that resides in the ‘dhri’ or ‘dhr’ (the Dham-)part of the word alone. Now what about the suffix ‘-ma’ ? If we take the word ‘samma’ , san – ma’, the becoming free of ‘san’, then Dhamma means becoming free from ‘dhri’, from the norm of Existence. No longer being subject to the laws that operate in the 31 realms, which is the whole purpose of the Teaching (the ‘Dhamma’ in the other conventional sense) of the Buddha.

That is one way I see that bhava-udda (Buddha) and dham-ma (the Dhamma) are indeed one and the same thing.

[Lal]

That explanation does give the right idea, y not.

However, the word dhamma should not be attributed to Vedic teachings. It has origins in the previous Buddha, Buddha Kassapa (and, of course, to even earlier Buddhas). All Buddhas teach the same Buddha Dhamma.

I have touched on that in several posts. I mentioned that again in #5 in the introduction to the new series of posts “Buddhahood Controversies – Introduction.”
– I will write more on that in upcoming posts in that series.

Dhamma means “to bear.”
– Everything in this world arises due to dhammā (created by the mind.) Buddha’s teachings about how that happens is called “Buddha Dhamma.” See, “Dhammā, Kamma, Saṅkhāra, Mind – Critical Connections.”

– More clarification at, “Ye Dhammā Hetuppabhavā.. and Yam Kiñci Samudaya Dhammam..“

[y not]

Lal,

I had not thought of the “to bear” meaning.

So we have:
– Dhamma in the sense of the Teaching.
– Dham-ma as ‘transcending the world’
– Dhamma as the things to be borne.
– Dhammā (created by the mind.)

I made reference to a Vedic term (Rta, not Dhamma) only so that those who are familiar with that may get the idea at once. That it all dates back to previous Buddhas is one thing I am so grateful that I have learnt.

It is wonderful how much a word may reveal. These are terms used by a Buddha. Alas, my knowledge(?)of Pali is only as much as I have been able to grasp thanks to you.
–

[Author]

Posts